Context-Dependent Memory in Situated Visualization

Situated visualization presents data alongside their source context (physical referent). While environmental factors influence memory recall (known as Context-Dependent Memory or CDM), how physical context affects cognition in real-world tasks such as working with visualizations in situated contexts is unclear. This study explores the design space of information memorability in situated visualization through the lens of CDM. We investigate the presence of physical referents for creating contextual cues in desktop and Virtual Reality (VR) environments. Across three studies (n=144), we observe a trend suggesting a CDM effect due to contextual referent is more apparent in VR. Overall, we did not find statistically significant evidence of a CDM effect due to the presence of a referent. However, we did find a significant CDM effect for lighting conditions. This suggests that representing the entire environment, rather than the physical objects alone, may be necessary to provide sufficiently strong contextual memory cues.